Hundreds line up to buy marijuana in Washington

Surrounded by thousands of packages of marijuana, Seattle’s top prosecutor needed some advice: Which one should he buy?

A new day, indeed.

Twenty months after voters legalized recreational cannabis for adults over 21, Washington’s first few licensed pot shops opened for business Tuesday, catering to hundreds of customers who lined up outside, thrilled to be a part of the historic moment.

The pot being sold at a handful of stores in Seattle, Bellingham, Prosser and Spokane was regulated, tested for impurities, heavily taxed and in short supply — such short supply that several other shops couldn’t open because they had nothing to sell.

Three retailers in Snohomish and Island counties have received licenses from the state to sell marijuana. Though sales could have started Tuesday, at least two of the retailers opted to wait.

The Bud Hut at 1123 Highway 532 on Camano Island is scheduled to open on July 21, according to a sign taped to the door of the former auto parts store. The owners could not be reached for comment.

Lisa Kihm, owner of Cascade Kropz at 19129 Smokey Point Blvd. in Arlington, said her shop is set to open Sunday. She is not yet sure what the hours will look like following the opening. It depends on supply and demand, she said.

The Whidbey Island Cannabis Company at 5826 S Kramer Road in Langley could not be reached Tuesday to confirm their opening date.

Pete Holmes, Seattle’s elected city attorney and a main backer of the state’s recreational marijuana law, said he wanted to be one of the first customers to demonstrate there are alternatives to the nation’s failed drug war.

“This is a tectonic shift in public policy,” he said. “You have to honor it. This is real. This is legal. This is a wonderful place to purchase marijuana where it’s out of the shadows.”

Dressed in a pinstripe suit, Holmes stood inside Seattle’s first and, for now, only licensed pot shop, Cannabis City, south of downtown.

Unsure what to buy, he asked the owner of the company that grew it, Nine Point Growth Industries of Bremerton, who recommended OG’s Pearl. The strain tested at 21.5 percent THC, marijuana’s main psychoactive compound.

The shop’s 26-year-old twin salesmen, Andrew and Adam Powers, explained its benefits to Holmes: mainly, that the taste is not too “skunky” to turn off the occasional user.

Holmes noted it had been quite some time since he smoked pot. He paraphrased a line from the “South Park” cartoon series: “Remember, children, there’s a time and place for everything. That place is college.”

He spent $80 on 4 grams, including $20.57 in taxes.

Washington is the second state to allow marijuana sales without a doctor’s note. Voters in Colorado also legalized pot in 2012, and sales began there Jan. 1.

The Washington Liquor Control Board began working right away to develop rules governing just about every aspect of the industry, from what fertilizers can be used to how extracts are produced.

But the board has been overwhelmed: Nearly 7,000 people applied to grow, process or sell pot, and those licenses are being reviewed glacially by the board’s 18 investigators.

Fewer than 100 growers have been approved, and only about a dozen were ready to harvest in time for the market’s launch. The growers pick which stores they sell to.

Altitude, the shop that opened in Prosser, served 215 customers by mid-afternoon Tuesday and planned to close early to stretch its supply for the rest of the week.

It’s been a bumpy ride in Washington, with product shortages as growers and sellers scrambled to prepare. Pot prices were expected to be higher than what people pay at the state’s unregulated medical marijuana dispensaries.

That was largely due to the short supply of legally produced pot in the state. Although more than 2,600 people applied to become licensed growers, fewer than 100 have been approved — and only about a dozen were ready to harvest by early this month.

In Seattle, hundreds of people waited in the warm sunshine outside for Cannabis City to open at noon. Store owner James Lathrop declared it time to “free the weed” and cut the ribbon — actually yellow police tape strung across the shop’s door.

His first customer, 65-year-old retiree Deb Greene, hugged and thanked Alison Holcomb, the author of Washington’s marijuana law, before placing her order for 8 grams, totaling $160 with tax. Greene said she got excited and bought twice as much as she intended to.

The hype surrounding the pot shop openings was unwelcome in some quarters.

Derek Franklin, head of the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention, said it can “normalize” marijuana use for children. He lamented that the state only recently scraped together some money for a digital and radio advertising campaign to urge parents to talk to their children about marijuana.

“This kind of messaging, not only is it too late, but it’s not nearly in-depth enough,” he said. “If we’re the big marijuana social experiment, well, there’s no experiment I’m aware of that you go into without informed consent.”

Bellingham’s first store, Top Shelf Cannabis, opened at 8 a.m. Cale Holdsworth strode to the counter, sniffed a glass jar filled with marijuana, and said: “I’ll take 2 grams.”

Holdsworth paid $26.50 and held up the brown paper bag containing his pot as people applauded.

“This is a great moment,” said the 29-year-old from Abilene, Kansas, as a swarm of reporters and television cameras recorded the moment.

Holdsworth was in town with his girlfriend, Sarah Gorton, and her younger brother for her grandfather’s birthday.

“It’s just a happy coincidence and an opportunity we’re not going to have for a long time,” said Gorton, 24. “I’m really thrilled to be a part of something that I never thought would happen.”

The trio planned to head back to their relatives’ house and sample the purchase.

“We’re probably going to break open a bottle of wine, sit on the porch and enjoy this,” she said.